solid wheels

[lowermits]

i know this is probably the stupidest question you have ever read in your life but i have just got into the world of touring cars and absolutly love it. well here is the question, on some cars i have seen a set of multi-spoke wheels in the front and a set of solid white wheels in the back, now what kind of wheels are the solid ones, who makes them, how much are they, what purpose do they serve and why doesnt everyone have them? wow that was a little more than A question but if you guys(gals) can help me out with these questions it would be greatly appreciated.
if you could email them to me at www.lowermits@hotmail.com that would be perfect.
once again thankyou very much.

[touringlegend]

I assume you're referring to the wheels of the Super Tourers in the 90's??

Can't tell you who makes them, or how much they are, but the purpose they are 'solid' is for aerodynamics, as it makes the wheels more slippery.

[Hobson]

Thats not a stupid question!

They aren't solid wheels, but very lightweight discs which fitted over the normal spoked wheels.

The main purpose was that it aided the aerodynamics of the car. The reason they weren't fitted to the front wheels was that the cars usually had the brake bias very much towards the front wheels (I think it used to be about 80%-20% on some cars), and they needed lots of cool air (hence the spokes). The rears hardly braked the car at all, so didn't need the cooling and could use discs.

[Hobson]

You did mean something like this, didn't you?

http://www.redshoes-archive.com/Pict...nfo.cgi?ID=718

[joey1]

I always remember the honda accords having these, i think they look very impressive. I think rim stock made these.

[Invader]

I believe the Winkelhock/Kox/Ravaglia BMWs first used the solid disc wheel covers in the 1996 BTCC but i'll be beggared if I can find a decent picture on the whole www.
NIGEL...dig out the archived archives and prove me right!

[Invader]

I kinda found this similar era photo of Johnny "the bike" Cecotto from the STW.

[Invader]

Or from Mr Shoes' 96 archive, this
Mr Redshoes, you will need to locate a 96 BTCC pic of any of the BMWs from Thruxton onwards which in my anoraklike opinion they first appeared.

[Carrie]

Okay, this topic has got me wondering. I was pretty certain that the Vauxhalls at Oulton varied between solid and spoked in the different races. So, I've been digging through old photos.
Why the difference? Setup for different races? And did it vary at other circuits as well?

[Carrie]

Another of Mr Cleland at the same race meeting.

[redshoes]

Dave, think I'd have gone for Thruxton 96 as the first appearance as well. That said the only pic on-line of the BMWs then is in the paddock and they have normal wheels. Sure I could dig something else out if you give me time.

[redshoes]

Carrie, as I recall the disc had an effect on brake cooling (less air going behind the wheel) so it wasn't used everywhere.

[ADnet]

same as this mondeo, i thinks its to balance the car set-up on particular circuits

[ADnet]

actually, come to think, could it be to do with the aerodynamics, when the rear brakes arent required as much, therefore they put solid wheels on the car as to reduce resistance on the spokes??

[touringlegend]

Yep that's bound to be the main reason.

Stupid theory here but does anyone remember some incidents where the rear spokes were machined away by another car tapping the rear wheel with it's front quarter? Maybe solid discs would prevent that from happening.

[ADnet]

yes, you mean sort of like boardmans in production last year?

[Jimeth]

yeah i remember Cleland talking about that after a crash at Oulton in 99.

[kmchow]

I thought I recall hearing that the covered rear alloys also helped to heat the pads discs(??) up more?? While excessive heat is bad, some pads (racing??) work better once they are warmed up. Since the front pads get used more often, they don't need the covered wheel alloy. Unlike the rears.

Are they actually just a wheel cover? Or an alloy wheel that has less spoke and more covered area?

While they may have practical reasons, aesthetically, the different pairing doesn't appeal to me. Anyone else agree?

[redshoes]

They are (were) standard spoken alloys with a metal disc attached

[Invader]

Look what I found in Danielsuns uploaded pictures on the still active Yahoo BTCC Fanzone website!!!!!

[Invader]

My thanks to Lorna and the anonymous host for unknowingly storing this file

[Matthopps]

The disks were only used for qualifying weren't they - to aid aerodynamics - because they didn't overheat the brakes as they were ony used for 3 laps, over a race distance the discs would cause the rear brakes to heat up and possibly explode?

[gttouring]

I had read that the brake balance being what it was, the rear brakes (this is when they used carbon discs.) would lose heat too quick, so the wheel covers were used to maintain the heat so as to keep them working properly, the front were so blazin hot they need cooling. The aero benefit was a side effect, never the main reason. It was brake performance, note on twistier circuits it was open wheelsrims because all the brakes got too warm...It was in 'Racecars:masterpieces of engineering' by john tipler, if i am not mistaken- a fun read too wuite historical.

[Invader]

Carbon discs?

[supertouring]

I recall an article in some mag where Jo Winkelhock was asked about qualifying and if the solid wheel disks works. His response was that he qualified only 1 hundreth of a sec (or something) ahead of the guy behind and he put this all down to the wheel covers! Therefore they must work!?!